Mumbai, March 17 -- The key equity barometers trade with limited gains in the early afternoon trade. The Nifty traded above the 22,450 mark. Financial services shares jumped after declining in the past trading session.

At 12:25 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, advanced 267 points or 0.36% to 74,093.24. The Nifty 50 index added 87.05 points or 0.39% to 22,484.25.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index advanced 0.61% and the S&P BSE Small-Cap index rose 0.30%.

The market breadth was negative. On the BSE, 1,755 shares rose and 2,164 shares fell. A total of 176 shares were unchanged.

Derivatives:

The NSE's India VIX, a gauge of the market's expectation of volatility over the near term, added 1.65% to 13.50. The Ni...